The freezing wind of the outside world whistled through the massive bone spears that had erupted from the ground. The snowflakes hanging in the air seemed to drop a few more degrees in temperature as the ominous aura radiating from the black veins in Gashadokuro JR.'s eyes spread across the clearing. The deadly silence coming from the depths of the forest was broken only by the sound of blood dripping from the shattered Royal scout onto the snow.
Hope could feel the surge of new power brought by reaching Level 30 flowing through his veins. His mind was clearer and more analytical than ever before. Yet the scene before him held a chaos far more complicated than the algorithms of the System. The three dangerous criminals he recognized from the Arena days—Gashadokuro JR., Field with his poisonous daggers, and NO9, the emotionless killing machine—had blocked his path.
Hope took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the cold air. His eyes locked onto Gashadokuro JR.'s maniacally smiling face. The gears in his mind were turning. It made sense that they might have the Royal Army chasing them, but this place was far from the Kingdom, and more importantly, their route had been completely secret. This region was desolate.
"How do you know we were in Atlantis?" Hope asked, trying to keep his voice as flat and emotionless as possible. Dark energy had already begun gathering in his right hand. "It's impossible for fugitives on the surface to hear about a battle at the bottom of the ocean."
Gashadokuro JR. threw his head back and burst into a bone-chilling laugh that echoed through the forest. His laughter was so violent that the bones in his neck made strange cracking sounds.
"How do we know? Everyone knows, idiot!" Gashadokuro JR. shouted, spreading his arms wide. "The entire kingdom watched! The whole world watched your pathetic and yet magnificent adventures live!"
Hope's brows furrowed. "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Deniz!" Field cut in, clinking his poisonous daggers between his fingers. The tattoos on his face glowed faintly even in the darkness of the snow. "Your big-hearted, traitorous gladiator friend Deniz! That guy didn't just stab you in the back, little hero. He was carrying a special Communication Crystal given to him by King Khronos. While traveling with you, he recorded everything you experienced, every monster you killed, the great catastrophe you unleashed in Atlantis—and transmitted it directly to the capital, projecting it onto the giant vision crystals in the Square!"
Hope's mind froze for a moment. Deniz's betrayal had already opened a deep wound, but its scale was far greater than he had imagined. That childish dream he had once spoken aloud in the dungeon while talking to an egg suddenly twisted into his darkest nightmare.
Beautiful girls would walk beside them, they would carry flashy swords and shining armor. People would look at them with admiration… I want to become a hero too.
Those words from the past echoed in his mind. Thanks to Deniz's broadcasts, Hope was no longer just a fugitive. He had become the "Famous Hero" figure who survived the Arena, faced Prince Nereus and King Dagon in Atlantis, and accomplished the impossible. The people of the surface had watched his battles like a stage play and memorized his name.
"You've gotten pretty famous, Architect!" Gashadokuro JR. said, widening his eyes. His gaze, wandering at the edge of madness, slowly traveled up and down Hope's body. "The public might see you as a hero, but for the underground world, hunters, criminals, and the Kingdom… you're nothing but walking fortune! Everyone saw your abilities, your potential. You being an Architect isn't known by just a few people anymore. Everyone knows! The entire world is after you, Hope! Finding your location wasn't difficult, because wherever you go, you leave behind epic destruction!"
Fame. As sweet as it might sound, in this world fame had only one meaning: becoming a target.
"Talking time is over," Hope said coldly. He reduced the chaos before him into a chessboard inside his mind. He shut down his emotions and focused only on the analytical Architect mindset.
"Ah, yes! Battle time!" Gashadokuro JR. screamed and suddenly dropped to his knees, slamming his hands into the snowy ground. "You didn't give me the bone you promised, Architect! So… so I'll take your sacred bones instead!"
The ground trembled violently. From beneath Hope's feet, three massive spine bones sharpened like spearheads burst out of the earth. With the incredible agility granted by Level 30, Hope leapt backward. While still in the air he clasped his hands together and created a dark shield made of shadows. The shrill sound that rang out when the bones struck the shield was enough to rupture eardrums.
"I'm sure they taste delicious!" Gashadokuro JR. charged at Hope on all fours like a feral beast. His arms had stretched unnaturally long, and razor-sharp bone claws had grown from his fingertips. "I can smell it, Hope! The sacred, dense scent of your marrow! Just smelling it is enough to drive me insane!"
Gashadokuro JR.'s attacks followed no logic, no martial discipline. They were completely wild, instinctive, and chaotic. When one of the bone claws tearing through the air grazed Hope's cheek, a small drop of blood fell onto the snow. Gashadokuro JR. caught that droplet in midair and tasted it with the tip of his tongue, his eyes rolling back in delight.
"So… so delicious!"
Hope did not break his stance in the face of his opponent's savagery. The green flames condensing in his right hand strengthened his scythe. System Analysis. Gashadokuro JR.'s movements were irregular, but his joints had openings. Hope took a sharp step to the side, dodged the second bone strike, and swung his scythe toward Gashadokuro's ribs.
"My bones aren't that easy to break!" the monstrous man roared. Extra bones that erupted from his ribcage absorbed the blow of the scythe.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, things were spiraling out of control. As the Starfallen light shone in Lypin's eyes and drifted toward the sky, the gravity around her began to fluctuate.
"Leave Hope alone!!" Lypin shouted. When she spread her arms wide, an immense gravitational pressure crashed down on Field.
But Field was incredibly fast.
[Venom Step]
His body dissolved into a black mist and slipped out of the gravity field within seconds, reappearing behind Lypin. The poisonous daggers in his hands traced deadly arcs through the air. Lypin used her Moon magic to create a silver barrier around herself. When the daggers struck the barrier, they hissed and began carving tattoo-like patterns into it, melting it like acid.
"Elegant tricks, Starfallen," Field sneered as his tattoos glowed. "But my poison rots not just flesh… it rots mana too."
Instead of answering, Lypin clasped her hands together.
[Lunar Blast]
A dense silver sphere of energy exploded toward Field's chest, launching the assassin meters backward and slamming him into the trees.
But Field wasn't the real danger.
Silent, emotionless, and moving like a machine, NO9 had been analyzing the battlefield from the beginning and had already identified the weakest link. While Lypin was occupied with Field, NO9 slipped into her blind spot without making a single sound, not even leaving footprints in the snow. The short sword in his hand, made from a dark gray, seamless alloy, descended toward Lypin's neck at a precise angle. There was no emotion, no killing intent—just a task to be completed.
Just as the blade was about to touch Lypin's skin, a blue mass shot between them.
Mira.
Their small companion created a large solid ice shield in midair. When NO9's sword struck Mira's crystallized shield, sparks flew, but it could not pierce through. Mira instantly shifted forms, taking on her fire element, and lashed a whip of flame toward NO9's face.
NO9 pulled his head back with millimetric precision and narrowly avoided the fire whip. But he did not retreat. His eyes, though his face remained expressionless, narrowed slightly in what could almost be interpreted as surprise. His gaze locked onto Mira, who shifted from fire to ice to water while taking a defensive stance.
Despite the chaotic noise of the battlefield, NO9's synthetic and emotionless voice could be heard clearly. Slowly, he turned his head toward Hope.
"This entity… its structural formation is unnatural," NO9 said without blinking. "Cellular adaptation speed and elemental manipulation match bio-engineering products by ninety-four percent. Did you… obtain it from a laboratory?"
Hope flinched as he blocked one of Gashadokuro's bone claws with his scythe. Vargo's laboratory… Mira's past… How could NO9 possibly know that? Wasn't this emotionless killer just a prisoner?
"That's none of your business!" Hope shouted, kicking Gashadokuro backward with a powerful strike.
NO9 lowered his sword, as if conducting a new data analysis on whether to continue the fight. "This information alters my mission parameters. If that prototype is in your possession—"
NO9 could not finish his sentence.
First they felt a faint tremor rising from the depths of the earth. Then, from the snowy hills, came the deafening thunder of thousands of steel boots striking the ground at the same time.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
The snow on the branches of the trees began to fall with the vibrations. The attention of all five people on the battlefield turned instantly toward the entrance of the forest. Gashadokuro JR.'s savage growl stopped, Field's grin vanished as he pushed himself up from the ground, Lypin swallowed hard, and Hope's eyes widened slightly.
A massive crowd was descending from the mountain slopes, their torches turning night into day and their armor shining under the moonlight. Hundreds—perhaps thousands—of soldiers carrying King Khronos's banner were approaching, along with heavily armored cavalry and enormous war beasts at the front wearing slave collars around their necks.
"The army…" Lypin whispered while hovering in the air. Her voice trembled.
The Royal Army was here. They had found them. And it was painfully obvious that they would crush not only Hope, but everything in their path.
Gashadokuro JR. ran his tongue over his lips, his crazed expression briefly replaced by a survival instinct. "Ah… looks like I'll have to wait a little longer before eating your sacred bones, Architect."
"They'll crush us," Field said, quickly sheathing his daggers. "Both us and you. Khronos's dogs don't leave prisoners alive."
NO9 silently stepped back, his gaze passing over Mira one last time. "Retreat. Probability of survival is extremely low."
Hope glanced at the cliff behind them and the armored machine of death rushing toward them like a tidal wave. Lypin and Mira landed beside him. Fighting right now would not be bravery. It would be stupidity. Being stronger, or even having an army of shadow spirits, did not mean he could stand alone against a Royal Army of ten thousand—especially when he had friends to protect.
Without a moment's hesitation, Gashadokuro JR., Field, and NO9 began running into the depths of the forest, toward the dark passages opposite the army's advance.
Lypin grabbed Hope's arm. "There's no hope, Hope! We have to run, right now!"
Hope cast one final look of hatred toward the Royal banner. This was the price of Deniz's betrayal. They were no longer just fighting monsters—they were fighting the entire world.
"We're leaving," Hope said through clenched teeth.
Old enemies and new allies, all fleeing from the absolute death approaching behind them, began running together in the same direction—toward the darkest and most unknown depths of the snowy region.
The most brutal act of the struggle for survival was only just beginning.